Such reporters could be considered to be members of the Deep State, using their position of influence to serve intelligence agencies rather than their news agency or their readers. These were people who would also be given classified information to leak to the public, a practice that still goes on today which we saw in the case of transcripts of President Trump’s phone calls and those of his advisors being given to the press after they were intercepted, which is obviously a serious felony. 258
During the initial investigation into Operation Mockingbird, a congressman asked William Colby, who was then the head of the CIA, “Do you have any people paid by the CIA who are working for television networks?” Colby responded, “This, I think, gets into the kind of details, Mr. Chairman, that I’d like to get into in executive session.”259 Executive session, meaning a closed session with only a handful of senators who were authorized to have access to classified information.
Despite the CIA’s attempts to contain the details and scope of the program, a lot of information was revealed, but many investigators believe that the full extent of Operation Mockingbird was never made public, and insist that the Church Committee’s hearings were just a “limited hangout,” meaning despite some damaging revelations, the true nature and scope of the program remained classified. Former Special Assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA, Victor Marchetti, said that limited hangouts are used by the CIA, “When their veil of secrecy is shredded and they can no longer rely on a phony cover story to misinform the public,” so “they resort to admitting◦— sometimes even volunteering◦— some of the truth while still managing to withhold the key and damaging facts in the case. The public, however, is usually so intrigued by the new information that it never thinks to pursue the matter further.”260
Frank Wisner, who led the Office of Strategic Services which would later become the CIA, called Operation Mockingbird the “Mighty Wurlitzer” after the Wurlitzer jukebox because he and his operatives could get the media to “play any tune” they wanted.261 The Church Committee also uncovered assassination plots, a frozen poison dart gun built by the CIA for such operations, poison pen letters, and other shocking activities which was actually their primary objective. Discovering the CIA’s media manipulation was an unexpected side effect.
The Church Committee’s final report on the investigation admits, “the Central Intelligence Agency has used the U.S. media for both the collection of intelligence and for cover,”262 and that, “The CIA maintained covert relationships with about 50 American journalists or employees of U.S. media organizations. They are part of a network of several hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct access to a large number of foreign newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets.”263 Notice they stressed ‘foreign’ outlets, which was just a diversion. The program was very much a domestic operation as well.
Shortly after Operation Mockingbird was exposed George Bush senior, then director of the CIA, issued a statement saying that, “The CIA will not enter into any paid or contractual relationship with any full-time or part-time news correspondent accredited by any United States news service, newspaper, periodical, radio or television network or station [anymore].”264
The CIA also claimed, “As soon as feasible, the Agency will bring existing relationships with individuals in these groups into conformity with this new policy. CIA recognizes that members of these groups (U.S. media and religious personnel) may wish to provide information to the CIA on matters of foreign intelligence of interest to the U.S. Government. The CIA will continue to welcome information volunteered by such individuals.”265
The Church Committee report noted that, “Of the approximately 50 U.S. journalists or personnel of U.S. media organizations who were employed by the CIA or maintained some other covert relationship with the CIA at the time of the announcement, fewer than one-half will be terminated under the new CIA guidelines.”266
It goes on to say, “About half of the some 50 CIA relationships with the U.S. media were paid relationships, ranging from salaried operatives working under journalistic cover, to U.S. journalists serving as ‘independent contractors’ for the CIA and being paid regularly for their services, to those who receive only occasional gifts and reimbursements from the CIA… More than a dozen United States news organizations and commercial publishing houses formerly provided cover for CIA agents abroad. A few of these organizations were unaware that they provided this cover.”267
The report also admits, “While the CIA did not provide the names of its media agents or the names of the media organizations with which they are connected, the Committee reviewed summaries of their relationships and work with the CIA.”268
During the Church Hearings, the CIA claimed they never tried to engage in any “clandestine use of staff employees of U.S. publications which have a substantial impact or influence on public opinion,”269 but this is an obvious lie and the report whitewashed such actions as “fallout” which they described as unintended and incidental ‘side effects’ of their propaganda, which they admitted was spread through the U.S. media, not just the foreign press.
They said this “fallout” in the United States was, “inevitable and consequently permissible” and that “there is no way to shield the American public from such ‘fallout.’”270 As a former senior official of the Agency said in his testimony, “If you plant an article in some paper overseas, and it is a hard-hitting article, or a revelation, there is no way of guaranteeing that it is not going to be picked up and published by the Associated Press in this country.”271
The report also admitted, “The domestic fallout of covert propaganda comes from many sources; books intended primarily for an English-speaking foreign audience, press placements that are picked up by international wire services, press services controlled by the CIA, and direct funding of foreign institutions that attempt to propagandize the United States public and Congress.”272
Even if they aren’t officially paying reporters anymore (which is most likely a complete lie), the fact is that they openly invited reporters and executives to work with the CIA “voluntarily,” and the report admits that this relationship would be of a great benefit to the careers of journalists who take them up on that offer.273 The report also admitted that CIA propaganda “contaminating” U.S. media (‘fall-out’ as they called it), “occurs in virtually any instance of propaganda use,” and that “it is truly impossible to insulate the United States from propaganda fallout.”274
It goes on to say, “The fallout problem is probably most serious when the U.S. public is dependent on the ‘polluted’ media channel for its information on a particular subject… Another situation in which the effects of ‘fallout’ in the United States may be significant is that in which specialized audiences in the United States◦— area study specialists, for example◦— may unknowingly rely heavily on materials produced by, or subsidized by, the CIA.”275